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No. 609,735. Patent ed Aug. 23, I898. L. C. CRDWELL. NEWSPAPER SEAL. A nu'mm filed Mar. 4, 11595.

(No Model.)

InverzZE 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUTHER C. CROWVELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ROBERT HOE, THEODORE H. MEAD, AND CHARLES CARPENTER, OF SAME PLACE.

N EWS PAPER-S EAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 609, 7'35, dated August 23, 1898.

Original application filed May 15, 1896, Serial No 591,630. Divided and this application filed March 4, 1898. Serial No. 672,530. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUTHER C. CROWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, county of New York, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Means for Preventing Fraud in the Sale of Newspapers and Similar Publications, fully described and represented in the following specification and o the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

In the sale of daily newspapers as now practiced it is the custom for the publisher thereof to place the same upon sale in quantity 5 with the newsdealers and to reimburse the newsdealers for such newspapers as remain unsold upon the return of such unsold newspapers within a limited period after publication.

a It is a common practice for the purchaser of daily newspapers to throw them away after having read them, so that frequently they come into the possession of persons who have not purchased them, but who seek to recover 5 their value from the publisher by taking advantage of the above-mentioned custom of the publishers in redeeming unsold copies at their cost price, and the possibility of so defrauding the publisher has led to his being systematically defrauded by the return of papers which have been sold and read, these papers being collected by newsboys and others, who sell them to dealers or sales agents, who return them to the publisher for redemption as unsold copies. Various methods and means have been employed for the purpose of preventing this fraud upon the publishers by sealing the newspaper, so that when it is once opened for reading it shall thereafter contain evidence of the fact that it has been sold or used and its value obtained. The methods and means heretofore suggested for this purpose, however, have all been inefficient or too expensive, or their use has been objectionable to the publishers, dealers, or public, so' that none of these methods or means have been sufficiently practical to be adopted, although the necessity for efficient protection against this fraud has been long recognized by newspaper publishers.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, cheap, and efficient means for sealing a newspaper or similar publication, such as a magazine or other periodical, which may be rapidly applied during printing or folding and such that the paper or similar publication cannot be opened for reading without clearly showing the fact that it has been opened and its Value thus obtained, while at the same time the paper can be readily opened by the purchaser without danger of tearing, 'so as to injure the printed portion, and danger of loss to the dealer or newsboy through accidental unsealing of the paper shall be avoided, while papers retupeied by the dealer may be readily and rapidly counted and any used papers returned as unsold readily detected during counting, and the device shall be otherwise acceptable commercially to the publisher, dealer, and public. I secure thisresult with other important ad-' vantages over devices heretofore suggested for this purpose by sealing the free edges of a folded newspaper or similar publication by uniting these edges by a wire passed through the edges and clenched or bent over to secure it therein, this wire sealing device being preferably applied in the form of a common wire staple having its two legs passed through the plies of the paper and clenched to secure the staple. While this staple form is preferred, however, it will be understood that a wire device may be used having but a single portion or more than two portions passed through the plies of the paper and clenched or bent over upon opposite sides of the paper in any suitable manner, so as to be secured therein.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown, for the purpose of illustration, a newspaper embodying the present invention as applied in its preferred form, with the sealing device, consisting of a common wire staple, inserted on the margin of the free edges of the folded paper, and a modification employing a sealing device having but a single wire passing through the paper, and these constructions will now be described in detail, and the features forming the invention then be specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective Ioo 3 is a similar cross-section showing a modified construction.

In-the drawings, A is the newspaper, which is shown as consisting of four plies, formed by folding the printed sheet once longitudinally and once transversely, and the plies of this folded sheet are united together and sealed on the margin and near the corner formed by the free edges by means of a staple a, which is shown as a common wire staple having its two legs passed through all the plies of the paper and clenched to secure the staple. The construction shown in Fig. 3 is the same, except that the sealing device consists of a single piece of wire passed through all the plies of the paper and clenched at opposite ends upon the outer plies of the paper.

It will be seen from the drawings that the newspaper is thus sealed by the wire devices shown, so that there is no practical way of opening the paper for reading without leaving obvious and permanent evidence of this fact, as even if the device be carefully detached the holes or hole which were made by its insertion will be left and show at a glance that the paper has been used. It is practically impossible for the paper to be rewired so as to deceive the publisher, as the wires cannot be set so as not to show, even though the paper be not torn, and, moreover, such careful removal of the wires and rewiring is too expensive an operation to be profitable.

The opening of the paper in the regular way, which will be used by the purchaser thatis, by tearing the plies from the wirewill show on the most casual inspection that the paper has been opened, while at the same time there is slight resistance to the tearing open of the paper, and the small surface of the paper engaged avoids all danger of substantial tearing of the paper, so as to injure the readingmatter or be otherwise objectionable to the purchaser.

There is thus secured an efficient and commercially acceptable means of preventing fraud upon the publisher by the return of sold copies of newspapers and similar publications, while the device is simple, cheap, and may be affixed to the paper or other publication during its production at the highest rate of speed by suitable Wire-stapling mechanisms, or the device may be readily affixed to the papers after production by machine or hand devices.

It will be understood that more than one sealing device may be inserted in the paper, if desired, so as to seal it at two or more points, and the present invention is not limited to a construction in which a single sealing device is employed.

This application forms a division of my prior application, Serial No. 591,630, filed May 15, 1896, which has matured into Patent No. 602,896, dated April 26, 1898, in which is described and claimed mechanism for applying sealing devices in accordance with the present invention.

What I claim is 1. A new article of manufacture consisting of a newspaper or similar publication formed of a sheet or sheets folded or doubled together and having their free edges united and sealed from being spread open by a wire passed through the free edges and clenched or bent over upon the paper to secure the wire therein, substantially as described.

2. A new article of manufacture consisting of a newspaper or similar publication formed of a sheet or sheets folded or doubled together and having their free edges united and sealed from being spread open by a wire staple having its two legs passed through the free edges and clenched or headed upon the paper to secure the staple therein, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUTHER o. oRowELL.

Witnesses:

O. J. SAWYER, T. F. KEHOE. 

